Hitler's Private Airshow: Too Little Too Late

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http://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/german-jets-at-insterburg-hitlers-excellent-air-show/

On November 26, 1943, Hitler left his lair at Rastenburg, East Prussia and made the 45 minute drive to Insterburg, 37 miles from the Russian border.  There, the Fuhrer was treated to a private airshow of German weaponry.  "The jet.  Show me the jet," he urged, meaning the new Messerschmitt.  When the jet finally appeared, racing across the blue horizon, Hitler asked if it was capable of carrying a bomb.  Told that it could carry one maybe two 250 kilogram bombs, Hitler exclaimed:  "This is the blitz bomber I have been requesting for years!"

Surprisingly, Germany did not get into aircraft production until late in the Second World War.  IN fact, half of its planes were produced in 1944 and 1945.  It was too little too late.  The Luftwaffe could not hold up to the Red Air Force, which was receiving an endless supply of aircraft from America through Lend Lease.  The Luftwaffe lost about 11,000 aircraft on the Eastern Front alone and could not replace them fast enough.

Therefore, when the Red Army invaded Intersburg in January of 1945, just a little over a year after Hitler had watched the Messerschmitt debut at the town's airfield, the Wehrmacht had no protection from the air.  The civilians, who fled the town in an endless caravan, were sitting ducks for the Red Air Force.  And Hitler, who had been so sure of Germany's victory, retreated to his Rastenburg lair.

A column of German prisoners makes its way down Insterburg's main street circa April 1945 courtesy https://www.pinterest.com/pin/315252042638517057/.

Wolfsschanze: Hitler's Bunker in East Prussia

The entrance to Hitler's Wolfsschanze, now part of Poland, courtesy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf%27s_Lair.

East Prussia was the location of Hitler's Wolfschanze or Wolfslair, a concrete bunker built to launch Operation Barbarossa, Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union.  Wolf, Hitler's nickname, was used at several German headquarters including Werwolf in the Ukraine and Wolfsschlucht in Belgium.  The bunker was originally planned in the autumn of 1940 and constructed by June of 1941.  The Wolfslair was built in the middle of the forest, isolated from roads and cities.

Hitler's 6.5 square kilometre complex was actually a series of buildings, offices and headquarters. According to Armaments Minister Albert Speer, 36 million marks was spent on the Wolfslair.  The complex contained everything from a teahouse to a cinema to a firefighting pond.  It provided shelter for Hitler's inner circle including Hermann Goring, Martin Bormann, Wilhelm Keitel and Alfred Jodl.  The Wolfslair employed 2000 people, including many who planned strategies for the Wehrmacht, but even a few who acted as guinea pigs, eating Hitler's food for him to make sure it wasn't poisoned.

"Traudl Junge, one of Hitler's secretaries recalled that in late 1943 or early 1944, Hitler spoke repeatedly of the possibility of a devastating bomber attack of the Wolfsschanze by Western Allies."  Ironically, when the attack came, it wasn't from the Allies, but from within Hitler's inner circle.  On July 20, 1944, a  bomb went off in the Conference Room, a bomb intended for Hitler.  While the bomb destroyed the room, and killed four of its occupants, Hitler emerged with no more than tattered trousers and a shattered eardrum.  Claus Von Stauffenberg, one of the architects of Operation Valkyrie, was arrested and executed for high treason, one of almost 5000 implicated in the plot (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20_July_plot#Escape_from_the_Wolf.27s_Lair_and_flight_to_Berlin).

The Conference Room after the failed assassination attempt on Hitler on July 20, 1944 courtesy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20_July_plot.